Jose Arias, the uncle of Genevieve Barrios Southgate, was part of the group in her family who fled north as a result of the Mexican Revolution. This photo was taken after the family arrived in the U.S.

This photo of Lorenza Barrios Arias was taken after her arrival in the U.S. She was the aunt of Genevieve Barrios Southgate, who wrote of her family's experiences in the Mexican Revolution. "My aunt Lorenza (Mama Lencha) would not speak about the horrors that they witnessed until she was well into her eighties," Southgate wrote.

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Cruz Barrios fled Mexico as a child as a result of the Mexican Revolution. He later became a Santa Ana civic leader and business owner. Ths photo was taken around the time he attended college.

Cruz Barrios, the father of Genevieve Barrios Southgate, was a teen when this photo was taken. He left Mexico as a child as a result of the Mexican Revolution.

Trinidad and Epifania Barrios were the grandparents of Genevieve Barrios Southgate. The family left Mexico as a result of the country's revolution. When a rebel general threatened to force their teen son to serve in the war, Epifania convinced the general to relent.

Genevieve Barrios Southgate wrote of her family's experiences during the Mexican Revolution, and their life in the U.S. following their departure from Mexico. She is director of community programs at the Bowers Museum.

Ruth Barrios was the mother of Genevieve Barrios Southgate, and ran the family's market with her husband Cruz. Like her husband, she became a respected community leader in Santa Ana.

As a child, and young adult, I heard my family’s story of their flight from war-torn Mexico.

I never heard praise for the popular heroes who adorn today’s t-shirts and posters.

What I heard was the story of federal troops storming through their rancho (small settlement) one day and the revolutionaries storming through the next. Both taking food and supplies for their men and leaving behind scarce food and destruction for the families of the rancho.

On the last of these invasions a rebel general attempted to recruit my 17-year-old uncle, Francisco (Pancho).

My grandmother, Epifania Barrios, pleaded with the general to not take her son from her. When the general threatened to shoot Francisco, my grandmother stood in front of her son and told the general that he would have to shoot her first.

To everyone’s surprise, the general relented and told my grandmother that he would return the next day and if the family was still at the ranch, he would recruit Francisco to fight with him and his men.

That night the family of Trinidad and Epifania Barrios left El Rancho Los Garcia, Jerez, Zacatecas, with whatever necessities they could carry and fled to the city of Zacatecas in June 1914.

Besides Trinidad and Epifania, the family caravan included their sons, Francisco and my father, 5-year-old Cruz, their daughter and son-in-law, Lorenza and Jose Arias and their infant son Antonio.

In Zacatecas, they hoped to find safe shelter. What they came upon was the aftermath of the bloodiest battle of the war and the turning point for the revolutionaries.

My aunt Lorenza (Mama Lencha) would not speak about the horrors that they witnessed in the Mexican Revolution until she was well into her eighties. She then told of the family approaching the hilly city and seeing streams of blood flowing down the streets, and pigs eating off of dead bodies.

That night the Barrios found shelter with a kind family. Early the next day, word came that there was a freight train passing through later in the day.

The family quickly gathered their meager possessions and ran to wait for the train to El Paso del Norte. It was an arduous trip, but they were all together.

In those days, all that was needed to enter the U.S. was to pay a fee of a few cents each. My Mama Lencha said they had a hard time scraping up the total fee, but the kind immigrations officer took pity on them and let them enter with what money they had.

As soon as they could, each able person in the family found jobs. My family worked the fields, the mines and the factories of the Southwest, until they had enough money to buy a house and a small grocery store in El Monte.

My uncle Francisco died in his early twenties of a lung disease he developed from working in the mines of Arizona.

His son, Russell, served as a member of the Orange Unified School District board and his niece, Rachel Montes, served as mayor of El Monte. His nephew, Mike Barrios, is presently a member of the El Monte Unified School District board, and his nephew, Art Barrios, served many years as a member of the El Monte City Council.